Pennsylvania
Gov. Edward G. Rendell will Deliver Commencement Address for
Lincoln on Sunday, May 1, 2005Lincoln will Graduate 375 Students
and also Award Honorary Degrees to Gov. Rendell and Three Other
Distinguished Leaders.

Pennsylvania Gov. Edward G. Rendell
will deliver the Commencement Address and also receive an honorary
degree as Lincoln University presents its 146th Commencement
on Sunday, May 1, 2005.

The 1:30 p.m. program will be held
outdoors at the University’s Track and Field Complex in
southern Chester County, Pennsylvania. Two hundred and thirty-eight
seniors will receive baccalaureate degrees and another 137 students
will be awarded master's degrees from Lincoln, which has earned
a national reputation for its distinguished role in higher education.

“Lincoln University is honored
and pleased that Governor Rendell will serve as our Commencement
Speaker,” said University President Ivory V. Nelson, Ph.D.,
who will preside over the program. “Lincoln is equally
pleased to present the Governor with an honorary degree in recognition
of his exemplary achievements in public office and outstanding
leadership of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”

Founded in 1854 as America’s
first Historically Black University, Lincoln University combines
the best elements of a liberal arts and sciences-based undergraduate
core curriculum and selected graduate programs to meet the needs
of those living in a highly technological and global society.
The University is nationally recognized as a major producer
of African Americans with undergraduate degrees in the physical
sciences (biology, chemistry and physics); computer and informational
sciences; biological and life sciences. Lincoln enrolls 2,012
undergraduate and graduate students.

In addition to Gov. Rendell, three
other distinguished leaders will also receive honorary degrees.
They are: Gwendolyn E. Boyd, an accomplished
engineer, and the former National President of Delta Sigma Theta
Sorority, Inc., an international service organization composed
of over 250,00 professional and educated women in over 950 chapters
throughout the world; Dr. Henry H. Mitchell,
a 19 41 Lincoln alumnus, noted theologian, college professor
and author of numerous books on religion; and Wilbert
A Tatum, a noted journalist and successful businessman,
who owns Inner City Broadcasting Corp., which operates radio
stations nationwide and the AMSTERDAM NEWS in New York
City.

2005
Commencement Speaker
The Honorable Edward G. Rendell: Doctor of Laws Honorary DegreeEdward G. Rendell was inaugurated as Pennsylvania's
45th Governor on January 21, 2003. As Governor, Rendell serves
as Chief Executive of the nation's 5th most populous state,
and oversees a $21 billion budget. From 1992 through1999, he
served as Mayor of the City of Philadelphia. Before serving
as Mayor, Rendell was elected District Attorney of Philadelphia
for two terms, from 1978 through 1985. As Mayor, his accomplishments
included eliminating a $250 million deficit, balancing the City's
budget and generating five consecutive budget surpluses.

The Governor, who served as General
Chair of the Democratic National Committee during the 2000 Presidential
election, has been active in the community through a variety
of memberships on boards. He also teaches two government and
politics courses at the University of Pennsylvania. An Army
veteran, he is also a graduate of Penn (B.A. 1965) and Villanova
Law School (J.D. 1968). He and his wife, Marjorie O. Rendell,
a Judge on the United States Court of Appeals, have a son, Jesse.

Gwendolyn
E. Boyd: Doctor of Humane Letters Honorary DegreeGwendolyn Elizabeth Boyd, an accomplished engineer,
is the former National President of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority,
Inc., an international service organization composed of over
250,000 professional women in over 950 chapters throughout the
world. She is currently the Executive Assistant to the Chief
of Staff at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
(APL). She graduated summa cum laude from Alabama State University
with a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and a double
minor in physics and music. Awarded a fellowship to pursue graduate
work at Yale University, she became in May 1979 the first African
American female to earn a Master of Science degree in mechanical
engineering from this Ivy League institution.

Boyd has received numerous awards
and honors, including the 2005 Maynard Jackson Leadership Award
from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.; induction into the Black
AIDS Institute Hall of Fame 2004 for advocacy to promote education
and awareness about HIV/AIDS in the Black community in America
and Africa; and 2003 listed as one of the Most Distinguished
Black College and University Graduates by the editors of US
Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine.

Dr.
Henry H. Mitchell ’41: Doctor of Humane Letters Honorary
Degree Henry H. Mitchell, D.D., a 19 41 Lincoln alumnus,
is a noted theologian, college professor and author of numerous
books on religion. He is author of three textbooks, Black
Preaching (Harper & Row, 1979; Abingdon, 1990), The
Recovery of Preaching (Harper, 1977; based on his 1974
Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale University); and Celebration
and Experience in Preaching (Abingdon, 1990), which was
designated by the American Academy of Parish Clergy as one of
the top 10 clergy books of 1991. His book, Black Church
Beginnings (1650-1900) - a radical rewrite and correction
of early Black Church history - was released by Eerdmans Publishing
Co. in October 2004.

Besides Lincoln University, Dr. Mitchell,
also holds a Bachelor of Divinity and Master’s degree
in Divinity from Union Theological Seminary, New York; Master’s
degree in linguistics from California State University at Fresno;
theology degree from Claremont School of Theology, California;
and honorary doctorate degree in divinity from The American
Baptist Seminary of the West, Berkeley. He has been married
for 60 years to his schoolmate of Union Seminary and Claremont
days, Dr. Ella P. Pearson Mitchell. They have three living children
and six grandchildren.

Wilbert
A. Tatum ’58: Doctor of Letters Honorary Degree
Wilbert “Bill” Tatum, a 1958 Lincoln alumnus, noted
journalist and successful businessman, purchased the AMSTERDAM
NEWS with his partners in 1971. In 1972, also with partners,
he purchased radio stations WLIB and WBLS in New York City.
These stations became the flagships of the Inner City Broadcasting
Corporation with stations in California, Michigan, Texas, Indiana
and New York, as well as corporate stock ownership of the famed
Apollo Theatre in Harlem.

In order to continue his passion
for journalism, Tatum had to leave America to follow his dream
because he was rejected for employment by all the New York newspapers
whose segregationist policies prevented him from being considered
for any job, including janitor, because he “was too well
educated.” He spent an extended period of time in Europe
where he was immediately able to get work as a reporter and
columnist for Stockholm’s TIDNIGEN in Sweden, and AKUELT
in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Besides Lincoln University, Tatum
also attended Yale University as a National Urban Fellow, sponsored
by the National League of Cities, the United States Conference
of Mayors, and the Ford Foundation. He received his Master’s
Degree in Urban Studies at Occidental College, Los Angeles,
California. He and his wife, Susan Kohn, have a daughter, Elinor,
who serves as publisher and editor-in-chief of the AMSTERDAM
NEWS.